this morning on "early today," line in the sand. israel's prime minister tells the u.n. that iran's capability to enrich uranium must be stopped. curious discovery. nasa's rover finds evidence of an ancient stream on mars. and circular sensation. new york city makes plans for the world's largest ferr wheel. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with the red line. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has told the united nations that the world has until next summer to stop iran from building a nuclear weapon.

the white house reacted by saying the u.s. shares israel's goal of stopping that from happening but so far it has refused to set an ultimatum. nbc's danielle leigh reports. >> reporter: from a fight over the west bank to fears about iran's nuclear program, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu spoke under pressure before the united nations. >> today a great battle is being waged. >> reporter: just one day after iran's president mahmoud amadinejad accused israel and the west of intimidation, netanyahu delivered iran new ultimatum against its controversial nuclear program. >> a red line should be drawn right here before, before iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb. >> reporter: israel and the west suspect iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon and fear the impact on the region, but so far diplomatic efforts to stop iran, who calls its program peaceful, have been unsuccessful. netanyahu also spoke directly to the palestinian president mahmoud abbas.

>> we won't solve our conflict with libelous speeches at the u.n. >> reporter: just minutes before abbas asked the u.n. to upgrade its status with the world body. >> translator: to assert the state that must be realized that is palestine. >> reporter: the change would allow palestine to pursue israel in the u.n.'s international court as the two battle over the west bank. >> translator: our people have become fixed targets for acts of killing and abuse. >> reporter: continuing conflicts, both that will likely require the continuous assistance of the u.s. in washington, i'm danielle leigh, nbc news. well, as both presidential candidates make their way across battleground states, a new nbc news wall street journal marist poll shows president obama leading mitt romney in new hampshire. the two, however, are neck in

>> reporter: earlier this week we were reporting new numbers for ohio and florida where president obama had a lead. new polls tell us in some battleground states it's much closer. mitt romney's message to donors last night. romney is only two points behind president obama there, but seven points behind in new hampshire. >> now your job is in danger. >> reporter: both sides came out swinging with new campaign ads on thursday. >> if i could sit down around with you at your kitchen table, here is what i would say. >> reporter: something new called economic patriotism. >> an economic patriotism rooted in the belief that growing our economy begins with a strong and thriving middle class. >> romney saying the nation's

debt is more than just paper. >> that is held by somebody. someone holds that. >> reporter: even supporters are split on how romney can win this race. >> he has to get a little more fire in the belly. >> he needs to stick be the facts. it's all about the economy. >> reporter: more than half the country has already started voting just days before the first presidential debate. more numbers now. gallup tells us that president obama's approval rating is still hovering around 50%. lynn, it turns out this could end up being his best month in terms of that approval rating in a year. >> tracie potts in washington, thanks so much. now here is a look at other stories making news early today in america. in utah, it was a dramatic rescue for a young deer that got trapped in a manhole earlier this week. poor little guy. officers used a climbing rope to lasso the animal and hoist it to safety. it was then released back into

the wild. beer drinkers, you may want to turn away. cases of beer went flying onto a colorado highway from an overturned semi that apparently took a turn too quickly. the stretch of highway was closed for threely three hours while crews cleaned up the big mess and set the truck up right t. driver suffered minor injuries. finally, the big apple is planning to add another big tourist attraction. new york city officials released an artist rendering of a 625-foot-tall ferris wheel. it will overlook the city's skyline from staten island and carry over 1,400 passengers at a time at a cost of $230 million the mammoth ride is expected to be the largest in the world, slated to begin turning in 2015. >> now for a look at your national and regional weather here is bill karins. >> i wonder if they let you look out one way.

one way you'll see the new york city skyline and the other way you'll see the staten island dump. >> we'll stick with the right. everybody look this way. >> good morning everyone. we're watching the huge storm in alaska now moving onto the shoreline. it's bringing rain around the anchorage area. as this storm has weaken pd over the last 24 hours, this was a monster storm, and now's just a tiny piece of a storm compared to what it was. that will continue to playing the region during the day. this storm as it exits, behind it the northerly winds are bringing down some of the cold air, too. our friends in anchorage and all of alaska will see their coldest weekend so far as we head towards their winter season. as far as the west coast, another quiet day. a look at clouds and showers over northwest oregon and northeastern portions of the state. that's really about it. that front is going to linger offshore of british columbia and off the coastlines here in the northwest. more clouds than anything else

will be the issue there. otherwise looks like a really nice day in many areas. it looks like the weekend is shaping up to be storm free. if you're on the coastal areas, you may have more clouds than other areas. temperatures just like yesterday, 70s in the northwest. 80s and 90s throu today. press cot, arizona, another beautiful day for you. that's what you've been waiting for. 81 and sunny. i think you could do the weekend forecast for the west. >> fabulous. >> sunny. late more sun. coming up, spain cuts back. blackberry bounces and zgat stacks up your favorite fast food. early morning business headlines are straight ahead. animated monsters scare up laughs at the weekend box office. coming up, the referees are

back. the tigers make history and the catch of the year, you don't want to miss it. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. police say a gunman opened fire inside a minneapolis sign company thursday killing four people and wounding four others before taking his own life. the "minneapolis star tribune" reports the gunman was a disgruntled former employee. the aclu claims there has been a 64% jump on the use of electronic surveillance on americans just since 2009, and they say it's being done without warrants. the government says it only does what the courts allow. the producer of the anti-muslim film that infuriated muslims around the world has been arrested, not for the movie, but an alleged probation violation from a check fraud violation which could mean prison.

actor johnny lewis who appeared in the tv show "sons of anarchy" was found dead thursday in los angeles. police say he was suspected in the killing of an 81-year-old woman who may have been his landlord. lewis, who once dated katy perry, either fell or jumped off the roof. nasa is taking a very close look at new photos from mars that show pebbles rounded off. now scientists say it may be a sign that water once flowed on the red planet, possibly enough to fill a stream. now here's an early look at how wall street's going to kick off the day. the dow closed at 13,485 after adding 72 points yesterday. the s&p gained 13. the nasdaq climbed 42. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei dropped 79 points but in hong kong the hang seng was up 78. well, aggressive budget cutting from one of europe's troubled economies helped wall street snap its losing streak. spain's finance minister

announced $51 billion in budget cuts yesterday hoping to convince the world it can meet its fiscal targets. that news helped gold continue its recent climb toward its biggest quarterly gain in two years. earlier mixed economic data failed to impress investors. initial jobless claims hit a two-month low, but the final tally on the second quarter gdp was lower than expected. after the bell, battered blackberry maker research in motion reported a smaller than expected quarterly loss. shares soared in late trade. discover also got an after-hours boost from upbeat earnings. nike, however, stumbled thanks to weak demand in china. earlier apple drove techs and the nasdaq higher. ge, part owner of this network, hit a four-year high after predicting a 10% rise in industrial revenue. tempur-pedic shot up after announcing it will buy rival

sealey for about $229 million. heineken won a two-month battle for asia pacific breweries with its $4.6 billion bid for the tiger beer maker. california governor jerry brown signed twin bills yesterday blocking universities and employers from requiring applicants to give up their e-mail or social media passwords. and, finally, zegat is out with its 2012 fast food survey and here are the winners. five guys for best burgers. starbucks for best coffee and mcdonald's for best fries. the most popular of the mega chains, subway and wendy's took first and second place. coming up, the return of the refs. a record nine in a row, and no relief for hockey fans. plus fans at citi field witness what could be the greatest grab of the season. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >> going to eat healthy today, but i guess it's fast food

friday. your forecast for the weekend looks absolutely fantastic. that's coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports, the players at last night's baltimore/cleveland game were not the only ones being cheered on. i bet you can guess who was. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines.

good morning. never in the history of sports have referees felt so welcome. you asked for it and here they are. the refs made their triumphant return given a standing ovation cheered on just about every call. as for the game, it got off to a bruising start. josh cribbs returned the punt. look out. leveled by two players, lost his helmet and was out like a light. remained down for several minutes. thankfully he got up under his own power and walked off the field. baltimore gave cleveland headaches all night. joe flacco to torrey smith, an 18-yard strike. ravens up 9-7 at the half. for the past decades the ravens have had one of the best defenses in the league and here is why. kerry williams picked off brandon weeden 63 yards the other way. baltimore went on to win it 23-16. doesn't look good for the nhl. the players have been locked out for 13 days, and yesterday the league canceled the entire preseason. there is a glimmer of hope. the two sides will meet today in new york. t white sox are in the middle of a late september collapse. longoria belted one, the rays

won it 3-2. chicago's loss is detroit's gain. the tigers are up two games in the central. jumped to a 4-0 lead against the royals. doug fister struck out a nine straight. tigers held on to win it 5-4. finally the mets r.a. dickey picked up his 20th win of the year. travis schneider scaled the fence like spiderman and made the grab. that's not only the catch of the day, that is the catch of the year. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. a reality star defended the nail polish that costs more than some homes. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. we'll show you an incredible response high school students came up with to stop bullying. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." as we look towards the beginning of next week, heads up to everybody in southern california. l.a. could be into the 100s with record heat. fire danger very high with very low humidity. that will be the story next week. this week everything looks fine. warm in vegas and veen nicks. okay in the northwest. as we go through saturday, we start to see signs of a little warmth beginning to build.

by sunday we'll jump into the 90s. if you're watching us in eugene oregon, select colors and look on as live cheetahs create paw-printed works of art at the wildlife safari. thanks. here is an early look at headlines in entertainment. an animated film about a vampire inkeeper is expected to suck the life out of box office rivals. hotel transylvania led by all-star voices like adam sandler is about a high end hotel operated by dracula. expected to pull in $28 million to $30 million. his movies make an insane amount of movies. looper is about a

time-traveling hit man and bruce willis as his vic i'm. maggie gyllenhaal, viola davis education film. it's a boy for reese witherspoon and her agent husband. tennessee james is named after witherspoon's home state. rapper lil wayne has overtaken elvis presley's record for billboard's top 100 list. that's been stood uncontested since 196. finally, you could have given me ten guesses that this exist. kelly osbourne tweeted an apology to anyone offended by her emmys manicure. it consisted of a $250,000 nail polish made from crushed black diamonds. what? >> she didn't pay for it. >> she didn't. a lot of people are -- that's

just unnecessary. >> i wouldn't say no. if they wanted to paint my nails, i'll do it. >> if they want to paint me in black diamonds, i'll be fine with it. this comes from wpbn where in nearby cadillac the tables were turned on a few high school bullies. 16-year-old whitney learned her homecoming queen nomination was an organized prank. after getting wind of the joke, students an community members quickly rallied by the sophomore and supporters donated a gown, gifts, even planned to display a huge banner at tonight's homecoming game. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just the first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

one lucky australian news team caught a rare sight on tape. the camera was rolling as an albino humpback was spotted off the country's gold coast during its annual migration to the antarctic. the whale was first seen in 1991 and was named migaloo, meaning white fella. migaloo is a rare breed, just one of 17,000 in east australia. well, hong kong is being lit up for its annual mid autumn festival. a six story high moon lantern was built for the occasion symbolizing an ancient chinese goddess. the design was built from bamboo, fabric and led lights and was selected through a competition. to make the display even more impressive, the designers placed the glowing moon in a pool surrounded by smaller lanterns. and, finally, the most famous painting in the world could have some competition. historians in switzerland displayed what they're calling a younger mona lisa, the same

woman as the famed da vinci masterpiece except in her early 20s instead of her early 30s. the painting is not new though. it was discovered in 1913 and historians say 30 years of research suggest it is the real deal. and it's really not comforting to me that the 20s and the 30s look so drastically different. i mean, i guess not drastic. you can see just see it's a little smoother. >> you know what i think we could do, you could be mona lisa for halloween. you could pull it off. >> i have to get my hair a little bit longer, make it a little bit darker. we'll see. >> we could do it. >> let's try that. what would you be? da vinci. >> da vinci. there we go. done. stay tuned. well, it's time for now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. the colorado theater shooting case file is set to be unsealed providing new insights into the shooting and the alleged gunman, james holmes. holmes is accused of killing 12 and injuring 58 more during a screening of "dark knight rises" on july 20th. police plan to take soil samples in the backyard of a michigan home where authorities have been told the body of

former teamster boss jimmy hoffa may have been buried. this after a dying man told police he saw men moving a black bag at that spot hours after hoffa went missing more than 35 years ago. and happy birthday to actress mira sorvino who turns 45. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. meet the lucky 12-year-old boy who received his first kiss from country music superstar carrie underwood. and comedian chelsea handler sits down with savannah to talk about the new season of "chelsea lately" and her plea to tom cruise. and now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports, and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. have a great weekend. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com